News courtesy Andaman Sheekha ::
Port Blair, Dec 05: The sea off Andaman will witness a Regional Level Marine Oil Pollution Response Exercise being conducted by the Indian Coast Guard and stakeholders on 06 Dec 2018. The exercise is aimed at assessing our preparedness and enhances coordination between various agencies responsible as per the ROSDCP (Regional Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan) in response to a marine oil spill in the Andaman Sea. The exercise is being conducted in two phases. A table top exercise was conducted 05 Dec 18 and the mock drill being conducted early morning to-date, 06 Dec. During table top exercise numerous situations were injected to portray possible scenarios considering local geography of these Islands and sea currents. Two different groups were formulated, and were asked to act like a CMG (Crisis Management Group). All stakeholders took active participation in this table top exercise and were able to appreciate actions required to be undertaken during actual marine oil spill emergency.
Coast Guard surface assets (08) including 02 OPVs, 02 FPVs & 04 IBs and air assets (02) Dornier & Chetak helicopter along with surface assets of ANC, PMB and DSS are participating in the today’s sea exercise. Also, a shore cleanup mock drill is being conducted at Corbyn’s Cove beach by Pollution Control Committee (PCC) in coordination with all stake holders/ resources agencies, from 0900 hrs to 1200 hrs.
Indian Coast Guard is a lead coordinating agency for marine environment protection in the maritime zones of India and is the coordinating authority for response to oil spills in Indian waters. The Director General Indian Coast Guard is the Chairman of the NOSDCP (National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan) Committee. Through this exercise, Indian Coast Guard Region (A&N) intends to bring all stakeholders on a singular platform and encourage them to remain prepared towards any oil spill contingency.
